The Shirks-s/t 7″
Virginia’s Big Neck Records has given new hope to the 7″ with the release of one of the tightest rock bands around. The Shirks’ self-titled 7″ is one of those records that revitalizes the use of the 45. The Shirks deliver Saints style riffs at blistering speeds. All three songs are catchy and full of attitude. Fronted by the singer of the late-great Problematics, this slab is bound for glory and surely an indication of what’s to come from a kick ass band.

Without a doubt this is the best money you can spend on a book about underground culture. For fans of underground film, this collection of articles from the magazine Cinema Sewer is absolutely essential reading. I am so uncool as to be uninitiated to Cinema Sewer Magazine. Sewer covers a wide range of genres including lost and forgotten horror, low budget science fiction and classic pornography. Â I am not a big fan of pornography, but Sewer’s painstakingly detailed profiles of the early players of the porn industry makes for fascinating reading. Among my favorite entries was an article rating made-for-TV movies. A description of movie scenes that take place in parking garages also stands out. The writing goes beyond simple nostalgia; the writers are informed and have a deep reverence for the material. This book brings back the thrill of my first time through Hollywood Babylon. Not just a great book, but a document of the forgotten.Â

Occasionally, a reminder that rock and roll will never die waltzes by and sticks with you. Nobunny’s Love Visions is easily one of the best records to come out in the past five years. Not only does Love Visions successfully fuse low-fi rock with 60’s pop riffs, but it is packaged with what might be one of the only five cool album cover rip-offs that there ever was. I hate ironic album art, but NoBunny standing in front of a brick wall dressed as a Ramone is keeping in spirit of the sounds within. When the album moves, it moves in all the right places. The slow numbers are often the gems on this one. In the style of an even more demented Beach Boy, NoBunny makes sincerely melodic tunes on what sounds like minimal equipment. Love Visions sounds a bit stapled together in that exciting way that the first Clash record does. As though the whole thing could become unhinged at thirty five miles an hour. And that is where the charm is. Let us all make a pact to never fund NoBunny too much and we’ll never hear his version of Cut the Crap. Or maybe, yea sure, why not. Love Visions is a must have.